The Changing Face of Aerial Warfare: 1940-Present Day

Can air power alone win a war?

That has been the question since the Second World War. Air attacks failed miserably in Vietnam: Operation Linebacker had little effect, while bombing Hanoi just increased hatred for America – yet air strikes in both Iraq and Libya helped bring about regime changes. No-fly zones may have worked in the Balkans, but they might as well not have been there for Saddam Hussein’s Iraq.

From the Luftwaffe’s massed attack on Britain to NATO’s interventions in Libya, aeria...